INTRODUCTION TO THE SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF DEVIANCE
I. What is the objective of studying deviance sociologically
To understand deviance as a type of social behavior
1. How do various kinds of behavior come to defined as deviant
2. Why do various kinds of deviant behavior occur
3. How are various kinds of deviant behavior organized
4. How can we describe the frequency and location of deviant behaviors
II. Why is deviance important to social scientists as a kind of social behavior
Deviance is one of the major features of human groups
1. Cultural - Social
Human groups order their relationships through both culture and social organization
Examples: language, social institutions
2. Structural - Social Psychological
Human relationships are ordered at both structural and social psychological level
Examples: institutions, friendships
3. Vertical - Horizontal
Human groups are ordered both in terms of ranks and through division of labor
Examples: social class, bureaucracy
4. Stability - Change
Human groups exhibit both stability and change simultaneously
Examples: traditions, revolutions
5. Conflict - Consensus
Human groups always contain both conflict and cooperation
Examples: war, ritual
6. Deviance - Conformity
In all human groups the prevailing pattern is conformity but no society exists without deviance
Examples: theft, honor systems
III. There are a number of alternative and sometimes competing perspectives for explaining deviance
1. Religious
Major Assumption: deviant behavior is the product of supernatural forces
Examples: witchcraft, possession
2. Biological / Physiological
Major Assumption: deviant behavior is the product of physical attributes of individuals
Examples: genetic heritage, brain structure
3. Psychological
Major Assumption: deviant behavior is the product of personality attributes of individuals
Examples: criminal mind, anti-social personality
4. Sociological
Major Assumption: deviant behavior is the product of social organization and social relationships
Examples: organized crime, abusive relationships
IV. What is the relationship between these various kinds of explanations?
1. Competition
2. Complementarity
V. Why do social scientists argue that sociological explanations have to be central to understanding most forms of deviance
1. Biological and psychological characteristics are molded socially
Example: aggressiveness
2. What is regarded as deviant varies within and between societies
Example: sexual relations
3. What is regarded as deviant varies the same society across time
Example: drug use
4. Responding to and controlling deviant behavior are social processes
Example: police and judicial systems
5. Deviance is almost always a sequence/process
Example: theft and assault as self help
6. Deviance is a continuum and not a binary category
Example: See Overhead
7. Deviance can be positive as well as negative
Example: See Overhead
8. Certain categories of deviance are highly contested
Example: See Overhead
9. Deviance can be conformity and conformity can be deviance
Example: whistleblowers
10. In most cases deviance appears to be associated with social factors
Example: theft
VI. What are the major sociological perspectives
There are two major divisions within the field
1. Level of analysis
a. Structural
b. Social psychological
2. Basic source of social order
a. Consensus
b. Conflict
VII. There will not be any single social theory of deviance
1. The diversity of deviance forms is extraordinary
Example: See Overhead
2. Even within categories of deviance, variance is enormous
Example: Homicide
CONTINUUM OF DEVIANCE SERIOUSNESS
Conditions of Moral Responsibility
1. The individual chose to commit the actions freely, without external constraint
Not an accident, coercion, or a miracle
2. The individual intended to commit the action and knew the rules relevant to the action
Conforming Person - applied a rule
Sick Person - incapable of complying with a rule
Deviant Person - defied a rule
Deviance -- any thought, feeling, attribute, or action that members of a social group treat as a violation of group values or rules
CONTINUUM
Informal, Non-organized Responses
1. Feeling that something is vaguely wrong, strange, peculiar
2. Feelings of dislike, repugnance
3. Feeling that something violates values or rules
4. Feeling that something violates moral values or rules
Informal Collective Responses
5. Judgement that something violates values or rules
6. Judgement that something violates moral values or rules
Formal Collective Responses
7. Judgement that something violates morally legitimate misdemeanor laws
8. Judgement that something violates morally legitimate felony laws
9. Judgement that something violates human nature
10. Judgement that something is absolutely evil
NECESSARY THEORETICAL ELEMENTS OF A CRIME
Crime (public wrong) - Any act or omission prohibited by public law and made punishable by the state in a judicial proceeding in its own name. A violation of public rights and duties due the whole community, considered as a community. Punishment is imposed for the public good and not for individual redress.
Civil Injury (private wrong) - An infringement or privation of the rights which belong to individuals considered merely as individuals. A violation of private rights pursued at the discretion of the injured party. Punishment is imposed for individual redress.
Crime
1. Act must involve a conscious, voluntary, external harm
2. Act must have been legally prohibited at the time it was committed
3. Perpetrator must have had criminal intent (mens rea) when engaged in the crime
4. There must be a causal relationship between voluntary misconduct and the legally forbidden result
5. There must be a legally prescribed punishment for the crime
TYPES OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
I. STRUCTURAL THEORIES
A. CONSENSUS THEORIES
Functionalism
Anomie
B. CONFLICT THEORIES
Radical Conflict
Culture Conflict
Marxist
II. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES
A. CONSENSUS THEORIES
Learning
Control
B. CONFLICT THEORIES
Labeling
ILLUSTRATIONS OF DEVIANCE AND CONTROL
A. TIPPING
1. Benefits and problems
2. Strategies of control
a. Typing customers
b. Personalizing service
c. Reminders
d. Confrontation
B. Sympathy
1. There are "feeling rules" about how, when and where feelings should be expressed
2. There are certain grounds that are regarded as sympathy worthy
3. Individuals in any community have a right to claim a certain amount of sympathy on appropriate grounds
a. Members are expected to feel some sympathy toward each other, which varies by closeness of relationship
b. Members are expected to search for evidence that other members have problems that merit sympathy
c. Members are expected to display sympathy appropriate to the person and plight
d. Members are expected not to make false claims or to claim too much
e. Members are expected to accept some sympathy
f. Members are expected for a gift of sympathy with gratification or deference
C. Queuing Behavior Queues constitute one means of creating order in an unstructured situation
a. Single line, single server
b. Single line, multiple servers
c. Series of lines, multiple servers
d. Station-to-station queues
e. Unstructured lines
2. Means of Creating and Preserving Position
a. Position determined by order of appearance
b. Creation of barricades
c. Maintaining close interpersonal distance
d. Shift system
e. Holding position with property
f. Registering with the "keeper of the list" and reporting periodically
3. Responses to Queue Violations
a. Do nothing
b. Leave
c. Hostile looks
d. Hostile comments, catcalls, jeers
e. Physical confrontation
4. Failure of Control Mechanisms
a. Fear of violence
b. Responsibiity rests of individual who permits intrusion
c. Those at head of queue have little interest in intrusions behind them
d. Those at the rear of line have a lower investment and greater difficulty in identifying intruders
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